Jwala Singh Thatthian
Jwala Singh Thatthian (1866 – 8 May 1938), known by the alias Santa Singh[1] and nickname Potato King,[2][3] was a leader of the Ghadar movement and the founder of the first gurdwara in the United States in Stockton, California. A wealthy potato farmer in California, he raised funds for a scholarship for Indian students in the United States.[4]
Biography
He was the son of Kanhaya Singh, a small-scale farmer,[3] of Thattian village in Amritsar district, Punjab.[1][5][6] In 1905, he left his village and in 1908, he immigrated to San Francisco in the United States via a journey through Panama and Mexico. Eventually he came to own a large farm but became disillusioned due to the anti-Sikh hate he experienced.[2][3][7] Jawala Singh, a successful potato farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, leased a 500-acre ranch with business partner Wasakha Singh in Holtville, next to Stockton. Immigrating Punjabi Sikh farmers would perform prayers in a room on the farm with the Guru Granth Sahib.[8][3][7] Jawala and Wasakha would eventually found the gurdwara on South Grant Street in a house, but their ranch would become an important religious, social, and political center associated with the gurdwara.[9][10] Jawala Singh served as the gurdwara's granthi.[3][7] He started a scholarship program in 1912 for male and female Sikh students in the United States at the University of California. Berkeley known as the Guru Gobind Singh Scholarship.[2][3][7] In 1912, the awardees of the scholarship included one Christian, one Sikh, one Muslim, and three Hindus. The scholars were also supported by lodging available at 1731 Allston Way, Berkeley known as the Guru Nanak Dev Vidyarthi Ashram.[7]
Jawala went on to form the Ghadar Party, a revolutionary movement that called for diaspora Indians to end the British occupation of India.[10] He would serve as the vice-president of the Ghadar Party.[3] The Stockton gurdwara served as a key place for the Ghadarites.[2] During World War I, Jawala recruited Sikhs to fight against the British colonial administration in Punjab while returning to the subcontinent aboard a boat and stopping at port-cities along the way. When he arrived in Calcutta on the boat Tosha Mans on 29 October 1914, he was arrested for his revolutionary activities. He was tried in Ludhiana and sentenced to fourteen years of jail, which was served at Montgomery Jail.[7] In 1928, the Kriti Kisan Lehar (movement) emerged from the Ghadar movement.[2] In 1933, Jawala was released from jail after serving his sentence, with him beginning to work for the Desh Bhagat Pariwar Sahaik Committee.[7] Jawala was the first president of the Punjab Kisan Sabha and led the peasant movement of the Nili Bar.[2][7] In 1935 he was arrested again and sentenced to a year in jail. After release in 1938, he was involved in a bus accident while travelling to the All-India Kisan Conference and died on 8 May 1938.[7]
References
- 1 2 Singh, Kirpal; Singh, Nahar, eds. (1985). Struggle for Free Hindustan (Ghadr Movement): 1905-1916. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 297.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Banerji, Aparna (21 April 2019). "Ghadar anniversary: A wealthy US peasant, the key mobiliser". The Tribune. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jawala Singh, a Unique Ghadri Baba". Bharat Sandesh. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
- ↑ Rudra, Geetika (31 March 2022). "8: Return to Hindoo Alley". Here to Stay: Uncovering South Asian American History. Rutgers University Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780813584034.
- ↑ Ganguly, Anil Baran (1980). Ghadar Revolution in America. Metropolitan. p. 105.
- ↑ Singh, Kirpal; Singh, Nahar, eds. (1985). Struggle for Free Hindustan (Ghadr Movement). Vol. 4: Ghadr Directory. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 38.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Bindra, Onkar Singh (21 June 2011). "JAWALA SINGH, A UNIQUE GHADRI BABA". Ambedkar Times. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
- ↑ "Stockton Gurdwara – Pioneering Punjabis Digital Archive". pioneeringpunjabis.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
- ↑ Van Hear, Nicholas (2005), "Refugee Diasporas or Refugees in Diaspora", Encyclopedia of Diasporas, Springer US, pp. 580–589, doi:10.1007/978-0-387-29904-4_60, ISBN 9780306483219
- 1 2 Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E., eds. (2014-03-01). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199699308.001.0001. ISBN 9780199699308.